logo
An Ex-Marxist Is Taking Risks to Reshape Sri Lanka

An Ex-Marxist Is Taking Risks to Reshape Sri Lanka

Bloomberg5 hours ago

Last week, regulators in cash-strapped Sri Lanka raised power prices by 15%. President Anura Dissanayake, who during his successful election campaign last year promised to lower the cost of electricity by a third, had to explain his U-turn. The treasury could no longer afford to subsidize power, he said.
Seven months into his term, the former radical has realized that keeping his country from one more crisis requires him to break promises and lose friends.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

US will strike North Korea if South attacked with nukes, South's spy chief nominee says
US will strike North Korea if South attacked with nukes, South's spy chief nominee says

Yahoo

time31 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

US will strike North Korea if South attacked with nukes, South's spy chief nominee says

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's nominee for spy agency director said on Thursday he believed the United States would strike North Korea with nuclear weapons if Pyongyang launched a nuclear attack against South Korea. Lee Jong-seok made the comment during a nomination hearing in answer to a question if he believed Washington would strike the North and put Americans at risk from a country even if Pyongyang has deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles. "Yes, that is my belief," Lee said, after saying the hypothetical scenario of South Korea coming under the North's nuclear attack is directly related to the security alliance between the two countries. North Korea has for years pursued a nuclear programme and is believed to have stockpiled fissile materials to build atomic weapons although it has not tested a missile mounted with such a weapon. Lee is nominated to lead South Korea's National Intelligence Service under new liberal President Lee Jae Myung who took office on June 4.

Exclusive-Japan plans to cut super-long bond sales by 10% to ease market concerns, draft shows
Exclusive-Japan plans to cut super-long bond sales by 10% to ease market concerns, draft shows

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Exclusive-Japan plans to cut super-long bond sales by 10% to ease market concerns, draft shows

By Takaya Yamaguchi TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's government plans to cut sales of super-long bonds by about 10% from the original plan in a rare revision to its bond programme for the current fiscal year, trimming overall bond issuance as a result, a draft document seen by Reuters showed. The move aims to soothe market concerns over supply-demand imbalances, after weak demand at recent auctions and a surge in super-long yields to record high levels last month rattled the bond market. The step also follows the Bank of Japan's decision this week to decelerate the pace of bond purchases reductions from next fiscal year, signalling its preference to move cautiously in removing remnants of its massive, decade-long stimulus. The revised issuance plan will be presented to primary dealers for discussion at a meeting on Friday. Additionally, there are also ideas of buying back some previously issued super-long JGBs with low interest rates to improve the supply-demand balance. The planned reduction in 20-, 30- and 40-year super-long bond sales would be partly offset by increased issuance of shorter-term notes, as well as bonds specifically designed for households. As a result, the total Japanese government bond (JGB) scheduled sales for the year through next March are set to fall by 500 billion yen ($3.44 billion) to 171.8 trillion yen, according to the draft of the revised bond programme. Issuing a larger amount of shorter-term bonds, however, would require a careful balancing act as the government would need to roll over debt more frequently and make its finances more vulnerable to bond market swings. Specifically, the revised plan calls for reducing 20-year JGB sales by 900 billion yen to 11.1 trillion yen, 30-year JGBs by 900 billion yen to 8.7 trillion yen and 40-year JGBs by 500 billion yen to 2.5 trillion yen. This means starting next month, sales of each of these tenors will be cut by 100 billion yen at every auction. Instead, the government will boost sales of two-year debt, one-year and six-month treasury discount bills by 600 billion yen each. At every auction starting October, sales of two-year debt will be raised by 100 billion yen to 2.7 trillion yen. The government will also increase issuance of principal-guaranteed JGBs for households by 500 billion yen. The original plan had called for cuts in 30- and 40-year bond sales to reflect shrinking demand from life insurers who mostly completed purchases of longer-dated bonds to comply with new solvency regulations. But as the worsening finances of advanced economies drew more market scrutiny, super-long JGBs became a target of a global bond selloff last month. ($1 = 145.1500 yen) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store